Being a camp counselor and college student are quite similar in more ways than not! Parents trust us with their children, so when we go to college, we must be the responsible ones! Or at least we like to think so...

1. Being away from home for an extended period of time, no biggie. Holiday breaks=days off
2. The on-campus convenience store is eerily similar to the gas station you went for late night snacks with your co’s on nights off
3. Waking up early for class? Waking up an entire cabin of kids every day all summer was a challenge, but getting out of bed for just yourself makes that seem like a breeze!
4. Listening to stressed friends=comforting homesick campers
5. The school cafeteria food is better than camp food (no one ever believes that’s possible!)
6. Football games=color war x100
7. Living in close corners with people is so familiar
8. Loud, noisy dorm? You’ve learned to be a lighter sleeper since you forced yourself to get up, every time a camper woke you up in the middle of the night. So, even the little noise wakes you up now!
9. Your friends ask you to help them cut their tailgate shirts, you’ve been cutting shirts for years!
10. You’re a pro at pretending not to be tired, even though you got 3 hours of sleep last night.
11. Trying not to wake your sleeping roommate is like trying not to wake your campers when you come back to the cabin after they’ve gone to bed.
12. Meeting new people that were also camp counselors and instantly bonding over funny camper stories
13. Friend: “My school is so diverse.” You: “You should come to my camp; my co’s were from all over the world”
14. Flyers advertising club camping trips and other outdoor activity groups immediately remind you of camp. You avoid these activities because they remind you of the grumpiest you’ve ever seen your campers
15. When one of the staple “camp songs” for the summer comes on at a party and you completely jam out
16. Your roommate knows all your close camp friends by name, even if he/she has never met them
17. Your floormates probably think you only sleep in the same dirty staff shirt every night; jokes on them, because you have seven of the same shirt!
18. No gossip will ever be as good as camper love life drama
19. Most of the photos decorating your dorm are from camp. “Wow, you sure have a lot of little siblings/cousins!” “Nope, those are my campers”
20. When you tell people that you’re a camp counselor in the summer, they just don’t understand why it’s the most incredible way to spend the summer.

You probably never thought that being a camp counselor would affect your college life, but it surely was the best preparation for your college experience!